Experimental School

Hello,

The Shanghai Experimental School (SES) is a primary and secondary school in Shanghai, China……The Shanghai Experimental School is a research-oriented institution that integrates education, instruction, and scientific experimentation. It allows flexibility in grade placement and skips the 5th and 6th grades of the standard Chinese educational system.

From Shanghai Experimental School - Wikipedia

XX experimental school is a very common name for high schools here. Perhaps I am wrong. But I seldom see a U.S./UK high school having “experimental” in its name. If I could retranslate these official names, how would I do it to make it sound more natural to western readers? Perhaps “Shanghai Demonstration School”?

If there's already an official translation I would be leery of retranslating it. The fact that US or UK schools don't use the word "experimental" may simply be an indication that the kind of school you describe doesn't exist here in the same form.

"Progressive school" is one option, but it may not be equivalent.

I attended an experimental school for the 7th and 8th grades in the 1950s (not in China or the U.S.). Its purpose was to test a number of educational theories. One that I remember was that we called teachers by their given names, versus the strict formality in the regular public schools of that country at that time. "Experimental school" is how I would translate that part of my school's name into English. I can't think of a better way to describe its Chinese equivalent.

It sounds like what is being experimented might be different in those two cases. Are the students doing the experimenting or being experimented on in Shanghai, HolyUnicorn?

kentix said:

It sounds like what is being experimented might be different in those two cases. Are the students doing the experimenting or being experimented on in Shanghai, HolyUnicorn?

The school tests new teaching methods and new educational theories. For example, it allows students to skip the 5th and 6th grades of the standard Chinese educational system. Skipping grades is a bit unusual here. So it is pioneering.

So it does sound like the same usage then.

So I will stick to "experimental school". Thanks, The Newt, Egmont and kentix.